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Entry bubble Hand Washing or Hand Sanitizer?

By: Jake | October 26, 2009 | Category: Health

Hand washingThe men's bathroom here at the Federal Citizen Information Center has two signs reminding guys to wash their hands. The sign hangers probably should read the recent study that found men aren't as vigilant about hand washing after going to the bathroom as women are, even with signs.

Since I religiously wash my hands after going I ignored the signs until someone pointed out some inconsistencies. For instance one simple sign says wash your hand for 20 seconds and the other says you  need 40 seconds to complete a 12 step hand washing process. The second sign also states that if you don't have any visible dirt on your hands, you should use an alcohol based hand sanitizer. There are now two large bottles of hand sanitizer in our bathroom for this purpose.

Unless you are a doctor, I'm not sure if a 12 step hand washing process is necessary. I did find the part about the hand sanitizer intriguing. I checked to see what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says and they suggest the 20 seconds of hand washing but they agreed that if your hands aren't visibly dirty, you can use hand sanitizer.

I find this surprising since I've had bad experiences with hand sanitizer. One winter when I was working in a restaurant the owner thought it would be a good idea to have a big hand sanitizer dispenser for the kitchen and waitstaff to use. It worked fine for a while but my and some of my co-workers hands started to break out. I still use hand sanitizer if nothing else is available, but given the choice I will always use old fashioned soap and water.

 How do you clean your hands? Do you use soap and water or sanitizer?

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Comments (14):

blue comment bubble Posted by Hi Jean! on October 26, 2009 at 09:25 AM EDT

good personal hygiene prevents a large assortment of ailments and can help mitigate others by improving your overall health. While there is no surefire way to prevent all, it is important to do what you can.

I prefer good old fashioned hard washing, preferably with liquid soap as it disolves better. I fill my dispenser at home with dishwashing soap rather than hand soap as it tends to have stronger anti-septic properties. I avoid alcohol based "sanitizers" except as an emergency substitute. I keep a bottle in my car for emergencies.

in addition to breakouts i have heard of children licking alcohol based sanitizers and becoming intoxicated.

Wanna see something really cool, squirt a nice puddle (2-3 inches accross)of sanitizer on a earthenware saucer (won't burn) and light it in a dark room. The blue flame is mystifying and calming.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Unknown on October 26, 2009 at 10:11 AM EDT

Soap & water.

In cooking class way back in high school, we always were told to wash with soap under hot water for the amount of time it takes to sing either the alphabet song or Row Row Row Your Boat (roughly 30 seconds).

We were also taught that scrubbing under running water was almost as important as using soap - so don't "scrub-THEN-rinse". It's all one step.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Roger on October 26, 2009 at 11:53 AM EDT

In response to your using a hand sanitizer and finding your hands breaking out: It sounds like an allergic reaction and in the past when I have found a liquid causes problems I try another brand and find one that does not cause problems. The same is true of liquid soap as they can cause reactions in some people.
That said, how do you know you did not miss some dirt in your hand examination. Just bite the bullet and wash your hands. 20 seconds while remembering twinkle twinkle little star or happy birthday songs to time yourself rather than watching a clock is not a terrible sacrifice.
Why do you wish to avoid washing your hands and possibly getting rid of round worms, pin worms, and other parasites, hepatitis, ameoba, cholera, and other pathogens and who knows what all else.
It's a dirty world with all sorts of disease causing things and internal parasites left behind by people. Do you really want to keep your own zoo?

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jean on October 26, 2009 at 11:56 AM EDT

Soap & water is the way to go. Everyone should wash and keep hands clean. I bought some refillable soap sprayers that I carry and use all day (www.germsprayer.com). I was playing slots this weekend and the place was filthy. I used my sprayer all day. Can't even think of the subways!!

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jeanne on October 26, 2009 at 01:10 PM EDT

I prefer liquid soap and running water, but when not available my second choice is "baby wipes". I figure they are designed to clean babies rather dirty bottoms-certainly more than I am usually cleaning my hands for in the car, etc. I only use hand sanitizer if I have no visible dirt (hence the baby wipes) and I feel I need that level of cleaning. Besides, what is really important is the scrubbing for at least 20 seconds.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Non-typhoid Mary on October 26, 2009 at 03:09 PM EDT

The whole hand sanitizer thing is both insulting and scary. I'm totally opposed to the use of this stuff. Apart from the horrible feeling it leaves on your hands, we've become a species overly concerned with killing every possible bacterium in the universe -- good, bad, and ugly. There are plenty of bacteria that help our bodies and need to be maintained, and in erms of not-so-good bacteria, eliminating every possible bacterium also eliminates the possibility of building immunities. Down with this sanitizer fiasco!

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blue comment bubble Posted by Howard Hughes on October 26, 2009 at 03:28 PM EDT

I avoid all pathogens by never leaving my hotel room. All incoming materials are irradiated to kill all microfauna that might infest my being. I bathe in alcohol to annihilate anything that might be hitching a ride and take antibiotics constantly to kill everything inside my body that is not me. Digestion can be a problem, but I can live with that.

Naturally, my contact with my fellow man is limited to electronic media, and I find that even that sometimes can lead to infections of a sort. I try to limit all communication to that which I deem essential (examples: "sell Yahoo" and "bring chili dogs"). I therefore avoid dangerous "computer viruses" and "cultural memes" which might infect my computer or myself.

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blue comment bubble Posted by sunshine on October 26, 2009 at 04:03 PM EDT

I think that soap and water is better. Hand sanitizer can often leave a sticky feeling on the hands which in my mind means you are prone to attracting things to the hands.

It would be nice if we could convince some major broadcasting stations to run public service announcements about the importance of washing hands to cut down on the spread of germs.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Sullivan Web Development on October 28, 2009 at 12:15 PM EDT

Kinda a germ freak here, and I laughed at the row row row your boat comment above. We used to have to do the same kind of thing at my high school.

Anyways, I probably wash my hands like 5,000 times a day, but it's funny that the two signs were conflicting.

<a href="http://www.sullivanwebdev.com">Sullivan Web Development</a>

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blue comment bubble Posted by Anti-hand-sanitizer on November 02, 2009 at 03:15 PM EST

I second Non-typhoid Mary's comment. Anti-bacterial soaps and hand-sanitizers kill all bacteria, even the good ones. We've become obsessed with germs, but killing all of them means you aren't building up immunities to disease. Just rub your hands together with soap and water.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Dennis Ryan on November 08, 2009 at 09:17 PM EST

I vote for soap and water. Soap to dislodge the dirt and germs, and then water to flush them from your hands. Then you're done!

As far as the all the recent media pounding the table on specific length of times to wash... this just makes me want to BUY stock in the soap companies.

BTW, I paint about compulsive hand washing:
http://www.kickthefaucet.com

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blue comment bubble Posted by private car services on November 30, 2009 at 06:48 AM EST

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blue comment bubble Posted by Rachel Smith on December 17, 2009 at 10:11 AM EST

Hand washing is always recommended, but when soap and water is not available, hand sanitizer is the next best option. According to the Hand Sanitizer Dispenser review at www.hand-sanitizer-dispenser-review.com, sales in the hand sanitizer category are up 19% from last year. They also have a section on a new hand sanitizer dispenser called Terraboost. Terraboost offers their sanitizer dispensers at no charge with a minimum purchase of hand sanitizer and you can view these dispensers at www.Terraboost.com.

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